Jean-Marie Dedecker (73) and Guy D’haeseleer (56), two of Flanders’ most famous mayors, faced death in 2025. For Dedecker, who had emergency heart surgery in February, the worries are over. “I’m going to live to be a hundred years old,” he says. D’haeseleer does not dare: “I hope I can make it to next year.” He received a new liver in April after a life-threatening hepatitis, but since last week the donor liver has been showing rejection symptoms.
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Guy D’haeseleer and Jean-Marie Dedecker looked death in the eye in 2025: “Be a hundred years old? I hope I make it to next year”
Bytaketonews
Dec 30, 2025